A Bind and a Half
by drgemini86
Summary: A virus cripples the SGC's systems and threatens to spread further. Meanwhile, Sam is shocked to learn that she has a bind of her own to deal with. Inspired by ST:TNG 'The Child'. Season 8. SamDaniel
1. Chapter 1

_**A Bind and a Half, by DrGemini86 (DrGemini24)**_

_**Summary: **A virus cripples the SGC's systems and threatens to spread further. Meanwhile, Sam is shocked to learn that she has a bind of her own. Inspired by ST:TNG: The Child. SamDaniel._

_**Pairing: **SamDaniel_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Season: **8-ish_

_**Category: **Established Relationship_

_**Genres: **Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Drama, Family, Mystery, Relationship, Tragedy_

_**A/N: **Inspired by the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, 'The Child'. If you're not familiar with it, don't worry. Also, no Pete in this story – there's no room for him. Reviews are most definitely welcome. :o)_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jack ascended the stairs to the control room amid blaring sirens and flashing red lights which signalled an incoming wormhole. He found Daniel standing by Walter's chair as the 'gate technician tapped a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him. Jack nodded in acknowledgement of the archaeologist but said nothing as he stood next to him, his arms folded across his chest.

Walter said, pressing a button on his earpiece, "Receiving IDC..." He paused as he something changed on his screen. He said, "It's SG-3's IDC – a little earlier than scheduled."

Jack acknowledged what the Sergeant had said as they watched the Iris open. As a siren continued to sound, armed soldiers waited in the gateroom below, their firearms trained on the event horizon. There was the usual 'kawoosh' of the unstable vortex before the event horizon stabilised to a shimmering luminous blue pool. There was a glooping noise as Colonel Reynolds appeared through the event horizon, followed shortly by the rest of his men, and a team of scientists they had been escorting.

Reynolds and his men handed over their firearms to the waiting soldiers. He glanced up to the control room at Jack, who nodded; a non-verbal code between the two men that a mission had gone to plan. Jack looked at Daniel curiously. He asked,

"Daniel, _I_ have to be here... for some 'big boss' reason... What are you doing here?"

Daniel nodded at a woman who was one of the last personnel to arrive through the 'gate. He then looked at Jack, and said in reply, "I'm eager to see the soil samples that Doctor Palmer has collected."

Jack was about to say something in reply when they heard a crackling noise. Their eyes widened in horror as yellow energy appeared through the event horizon, crackling as it emerged. Most of the personnel fled from the gateroom as others remained behind, guns aimed at the event horizon. Jack yelled at Walter,

"Shut it down!"

Walter said, frowning deeply, "Sir, I'm trying to but the controls are unresponsive. Someone's going to have to manually override the 'gate."

Jack was about to leave the control room when he noticed Siler run through the gateroom towards his and Daniel's left. The sergeant ripped open the small metal cupboard the housed the manual override for the Stargate. He pulled a large switch just as the yellow energy crackled towards him. He was blown backwards as though he had been electrocuted, the sergeant's body slamming against the wall beneath the window of the control room. Walter frantically tried to shut things down from his end. Jack leaned over his shoulder to yell into the microphone,

"Fall back to the corridor! Medical team to the gateroom."

He turned to a just as shell-shocked Daniel. The General said gruffly, "Right, time to get your girlfriend."

Daniel managed to tear his eyes from the havoc that had been wreaked below them. He then fled the control room, rushing off to find Sam. Jack then watched as computer screens flickered, and the blast doors slid up and down repeatedly.

Walter raised his hands finally, helpless. He looked up at Jack, and said, "There's nothing I can do, Sir. Something has taken control of our systems."

The lights flickered and then everything went dark, an eerie silence in its place. The base's emergency lighting kicked in, and Jack forgot about being 'The Man', being cool under pressure and mostly professional. He swore very loud, and this time, Walter didn't flinch.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam slept uneasily in her bed in her on-base quarters. She hadn't had much in the way of sleep for a while – how long exactly, she wasn't sure. It probably counted as misconduct – her sleep-fogged mind was never big on regulations – but she was sure that Jack would understand – he always seemed concerned that she rarely seemed to have time to get an adequate night's rest for whatever reason.

While she tossed and turned, a bright yellow light, similar to the one in the gateroom, illuminated the ceiling. It appeared to coalesce into a mass as it descended on Sam's sleeping form. The light engulfed her before fading into her body. She woke up, gasping for breath as she sat bolt upright. Something was wrong; something was very wrong, and she didn't know why.

Suddenly, she felt very nauseous. Leaping out of her bed, she fled to the en-suite bathroom where she promptly vomited into the sink. Before she could catch her breath, she vomited again. Holding onto the sides of the sink, she began to feel dizzy. She frowned as she started to see double, and then nothing as she collapsed to the ground as darkness fell all around her.

Some time later, Daniel tapped on the door of her quarters, a just as concerned Teal'c behind him. Daniel called her name before opening the door. He frowned in the gloom of the emergency lighting and called her name again. Worried, he removed a small flashlight from his trouser pocket and shone it around the room. He paused the beam of light on seeing that the bathroom door was open. Following a hunch, he cautiously walked towards the door, calling her name.

He ran to her side on seeing her weakly attempt to move from her position on the floor. As Teal'c rushed to make a phone call, Daniel cradled her body in his arms and said, "Sam! What happened?"

She replied, breathing shallowly, "Something's wrong."

Before Daniel could process that, Teal'c had swept her up in his arms and, without a word, left the quarters. The archaeologist, feeling helpless, followed, wondering just how bad his day could get. He jogged behind the Jaffa, noticing Sam slip in and out of consciousness. When she was conscious, he noticed that she appeared groggy and confused.


	2. Chapter 2

In the briefing room, Jack sat back in his chair. He appeared exhausted at the latest turn of events. As the emergency lights now began to flicker every so often, he rubbed his face with his hands and groaned aloud. He looked around at the people who were seated at the table. Teal'c, Colonel Reynolds, and Doctor Lee. He exhaled. He would do anything to have his whole team there but, as usual, something else seemed to be afoot. Why he couldn't just have an easy first year in command he could never understand. He thought he had got all of the crap out of the way, paid his karmic dues, with the thousands of crazy events during his tenure as SG-1 lead.

But it looked as though the universe still had it in for him, as though his debt to it was still unpaid. Or maybe it just liked to play with him.

He looked up as the emergency lighting in the briefing room proceeded to flash on and off in some kind of sequence. He noticed that Lee appeared to be writing things down in his notebook and looking at the lights periodically. Well, at least somebody was concentrating.

Jack addressed the group wearily. "So... any ideas? Anything at all?"

Reynolds, SG-3's leader, appeared bemused but not fazed by the lights. He said, "Well, we've been locked out of the main computer system; we're running on emergency lighting – even NORAD's down. Comms are out including the telephone network – we're using radios with variable success. Only two casualties thus far: Sergeant Siler, and Colonel Carter."

Jack nodded slowly and looked towards Lee. He said, "Any idea of how to fix things?"

Lee appeared to squirm a little under Jack's scrutiny; he knew all too well just how impatient the General could be – just how impatient or determined each of the members of SG-1 could be when something was afoot. He knew just as well that if it looked like he didn't have any answers, O'Neill could very much rip him to shreds.

Lee replied, "I have a team working on it." He shrugged, helpless. "We've tried rebooting the SGC systems. Nothing. We've tried contacting..."

Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand. He said, impatiently at first, "You said this thing was like a virus... what are the chances of it spreading into the city?"

Lee sighed, fear evident in his eyes. He said, "General, I couldn't tell you. We have no way of finding out – we can only guess which is not a lot of good right now. We need facts and my team is working on that."

Jack was very tempted to swear but thought better of it. He was a leader. He already had been a leader but he was in charge here. He was 'The Man', and being 'The Man' meant being calm and everything that he hated being. He wanted to be in the thick of it, shooting things, running... but there was nothing to shoot nor to run from. He didn't like being in limbo like this, not knowing. Also, scientists infuriated him.

Teal'c was the only one at the table who didn't appear scared. He did appear mildly concerned which was always a worry to Jack; Teal'c's facial expression was usually his gauge of a situation whenever everyone else had gone mad. If Teal'c was letting on, even if only facially, that he was concerned, then they were screwed.

Or maybe growing his hair out had softened him up.

Teal'c said, "What of the Stargate? We can channel power from the emergency lighting and manually dial the Stargate. Only power sufficient to dial the Stargate is required."

Jack's expression turned from utter tiredness to one of slight hope as he looked from Teal'c to Lee. Lee appeared nervous that, once again, he appeared to be under scrutiny. There was nothing quite like the diverse emergencies at the SGC to put pressure on the scientists. They were usually otherwise ignored.

Lee replied, "The gateroom is still being scrubbed down... and..." He looked up as the emergency lighting continued flashing periodically. "... I don't think the emergency power is reliable somehow."

Jack tried not to sound like a bear with a sore head, but it was very hard. He said carefully, "So, what is that? A 'no'?"

Lee shrugged. "It's a maybe."

"How's Sergeant Siler doing?"

Teal'c replied, "He is well."

Jack continued to appear troubled. He didn't want to be emotionally compromised but he couldn't help it when one of his own was in danger. Teal'c was about to speak, to allay whatever fears or unease the General had when Daniel walked in. The four men looked up at the archaeologist who appeared to have forgotten his glasses, and who, they suspected, may have shed some tears. Jack sighed, inwardly feeling selfish at his worries when his friend was having trouble far closer to home.

Amid a tense silence, Daniel took a seat next to Teal'c but didn't say anything. Teal'c watched over him while the others tried not to make him feel awkward with their scrutiny. Whatever was left of Jack's already scattered focus was now gone as he regarded the man to Teal'c left. Something was up. Oh for cryin' out loud, he knew that taking this damn command had opened some kind of floodgates for trouble.

Jack asked, "How's Carter doing?"

Daniel looked up, straight at Jack but appeared too lost to say anything. Just then, Doctor Brightman walked into the room. Jack mentally swore upon seeing the brown haired acting medical officer of the SGC. This was bad. Although the doctor, in her brief tenure thus far, had rarely broken out into a smile. He sighed silently – the dramas they had had since the start of her employment already hadn't been much to be happy about.

Jack nodded at her and she took the seat to Colonel Reynolds' left so that she was in between Jack at the head of the table, and the leader of SG-3. She was still wearing her white coat and she didn't have any files or paperwork. Jack saw it as a small mercy – it didn't look likely that she was going to drift into long winded explanations.

Jack asked, inwardly – very inwardly – scared, "Well...?"

Brightman appeared slightly tense. She glanced towards Daniel who was now looking down at her hands. She then looked back at Jack. She said, "General, I'm obliged to notify you that Colonel Carter is pregnant."

There was some murmuring amongst Reynolds and Lee. Daniel remained immobile, while Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Jack appeared confused – his old second-in-command was pregnant but Daniel wasn't happy, and the base was going to hell – he wasn't sure how to feel. Jack said cautiously,

"I get the feeling that that's not the whole story, Doctor."

Brightman appeared to be choosing her words carefully, as though she wasn't sure how to say what she had to say. At last, she said, "Sir... the genetic test results came back and only her DNA is present, like it's a clone." She paused. "... and the baby is developing much faster than humanly possible. From talking to the Colonel, conception could only have taken place five hours ago before Doctor Jackson and Teal'c found her in her quarters."

Jack groaned as he sank in his seat. He rubbed his face, and then said, "It never rains but it pours." He took a deep breath and looked at the doctor. He said, "Any idea of how that happened?" He paused, appearing awkward. "... other that, you know, the whole birds and the bees thing."

The doctor replied, looking puzzled, "No Sir. I do not have a viable explanation for the phenomenon under way in the Infirmary. By all rights, the Colonel should not be pregnant – it doesn't make sense."

"Not much about this job makes sense, Doctor."

"There was one thing." The doctor continued, "The Colonel remembers waking up suddenly at around the estimated time of conception: she can't explain it but she says she felt something was 'wrong'."

Jack asked, worried, "Is Carter the only one affected?"

Brightman glanced at Daniel, who hadn't moved. She replied, "Yes, Sir. There are no other cases."

"Then, in your professional opinion, do you think the apparent 'coincidence' of this happening while my base goes to hell is actually not a coincidence and that they're somehow linked?"

Brightman appeared mildly sceptical. "I wouldn't know, Sir. This is way out of my expertise right now."

"You're preaching to the choir, sister."


	3. Chapter 3

Sam rested in the Infirmary, the cool darkness a welcome relief from the heat and light of the day and its events. In spite of the relief she felt, she felt heavy and bloated. More relief stemmed from her urge to vomit subsiding some time previously. Still, it was a small relief overall. They had told her she was pregnant; something which she saw as impossible with her years of using contraceptive injections, and, fairly recently, a contraceptive implant. The news hadn't sank in – she saw herself as either compromised by an alien entity or influence, in the midst of a dream, or both. Why they hadn't adopted full quarantine protocols still escaped her. When all this was over, she planned on putting in a formal complaint, or at least shouting at someone.

Anger soon gave way to anguish. Her career was ruined. Tears streamed down her face. What would happen? She wasn't quite sure that what she carried was even human. Her relationship with Daniel was certainly ruined. They were just about doing okay until now. She wouldn't blame him if he did cut and run, although it wouldn't stop her from exacting some sort of unplanned revenge, eventually.

She froze on hearing something. She automatically but stealthily grabbed whatever came closest to hand – in this case, something cold and metallic from the observations trolley. She peered into the darkness, the only light coming from the Infirmary's night lights. She breathed a sigh of relief when she could make out Daniel's face, and she put the item down. She released a shuddering breath and said hoarsely, turning her face away,

"What are you doing here?"

Daniel quietly asked, "How are you feeling?"

Great, she thought, he wasn't answering her – that was usually a bad sign. She replied, still turned away from him, "I've been better, I have to say." She looked back at him falteringly as though expecting the worst, or the second worst to what was happening to her. She whispered, "What about you, Daniel?"

"I'm not important right now."

Typical. She closed her eyes and sniffed as she felt herself give way to more tears. She opened her eyes again upon feeling his hand on her brow. She had missed him – missed his long, cool fingers – missed everything about him. She whispered,

"Daniel, what the hell is happening to me?!"

Daniel looked down at his girlfriend. The scene was so surreal. Within a day, she looked as though she was at least six months pregnant. His eyes fell to the shape of her abdomen in the gloom. What the hell was she carrying? What the hell was happening? He put his questions and angst to one side for the moment; he had to be there for her, whatever was happening. The last time the woman he loved was...

He closed his eyes to steady his nerves. The last time: Sha're had haunted him for years. This time, at least; this time he would be there for Sam, even though he hated with a passion whatever had made her pregnant. Having someone you love impregnated by some crazy insane alien was absolutely terrible, but twice? Granted, there was a chance it wasn't the Goa'uld this time, but still...

His fingers moved across her brow. He said to her, "Sam, whatever happens, I'm here for you."

She looked up at him through her tears. She said, "You shouldn't have to, Daniel."

"I want to. You're my everything Sam and I'm not going to screw up like I did last time."

Her expression turned to concern as she looked up at him. She said, "Daniel, that wasn't your fault."

"But I could have done a better job of being there for her. She must have been terrified and I let her down. I'm not letting you down, Sam. I'm here for you."

She smiled a little despite her tears. There would be no arguing with him... but she was glad too; she wasn't in this alone. She reached for the hand that had been on her brow and she kissed it. She whispered, "Thank you."

When he said her name, she opened her eyes once again to see him reaching for her bedside light. As she squinted in the light, he pulled her sheets down and stared at her bump. Her eyes widened in shock. It definitely looked much larger than it had a few hours earlier. Before she could process that new observation, she became aware of what felt like very strong menstrual cramps. She looked up at Daniel in anguish and before she could speak, he was holding down the call button and yelling for a doctor.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Chaos. His base was in complete and utter chaos, and it hadn't been his for long. What would General Hammond say? He cleared his throat. _George_. What would George say? The Stargate was inoperable; they were down to emergency lighting and, thankfully at least, the ventilation system. The base was in lockdown. Whatever it was that was screwing up his base was still around and because they didn't know what the hell it was, alien or electrical, standard procedure for Stargate Command was indefinite lockdown until they could discover the source and prevent it from spreading – if indeed it was contagious. Eight years had taught him caution at the very least.

His best people were tied up with another debacle; well most of his best people. At least he still had Teal'c. Carter and Daniel were useless to him right now. As frustrating as it was, there was no way he could expect either of them to be able to focus considering what was going on. Carter, pregnant. He would never have thought it. She was far too much a career woman – she could even make General some day, or leave the military all together and be some sciency person; she'd probably get a stint over in the Pegasus galaxy.

To have one little lady be knocked up by some alien douchebag was one thing, but two? So far there had been no inclination that it was the Goa'uld's doing, but who knew? They had seen a lot of the Milky Way but he was well aware there was a lot more to the galaxy and the wider universe than they would ever explore in their collective lifetimes... and Teal'c's age certainly bumped their collective ages up. Truth be told, Daniel Jackson needed a break from the frequent ass kicking the universe seemed to enjoy giving him.

Jack hesitated to return to his office as he roamed the deserted corridors. He just knew that there would be at least one scientist whining about when they could go home, or some paperwork someone wanted him to sign. Where before he could ignore emails and phone calls, he found himself barraged by visitors requesting the relative insignificant now that comms were down. He wanted nothing more than to go home and have a decent bath for once, to have a tall frosty beer, and to fall asleep in his amazingly comfortable bed. But duty calls, and damn it, it called so loud that it could not be ignored.

He turned a corner and found himself in view of his office door. Good, no queue this time, he thought. Instead, Walter Harriman waited outside. Good ol' Walter. Jack patted the Sergeant's shoulder as he passed him to get into his office. He remarked tiredly,

"What did you do this time, Walter, turn the hose on them?"

Walter entered the office and closed the door behind him. He said, "Sir, I tried to locate you but it was difficult seeing as you refuse to carry a radio."

Jack plumped down in his chair, and he placed his hands on his desk. He said, "That's what they're expecting me to do, and I swear, I get one more request from Balinsky or whatever his name is, to look at some photos from P3X whatever, I'm going climb out of this base myself, lockdown or no lockdown."

Walter smiled briefly to humour the General. He then said gravely, "General, Colonel Carter went into labour over an hour ago."

Jack immediately pricked up on hearing the Sergeant's words. He said, "Is she okay?"

"The last I heard, Sir, Doctor Jackson and Teal'c were by her side."

"And then that's where I should be. Let's roll, Walter."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jack O'Neill had seen a fair few sights in his time, even without the Stargate programme. Nothing, however, had prepared him for the sight that met his eyes on entering Carter's room in the Infirmary. He looked towards Teal'c or Daniel for an explanation, the two flanking the Colonel's bed, but they were slightly less confused than he was.

He looked at Carter as what appeared to be a toddler was seated on her bed sucking a biscuit. He checked his watch and remarked drily, "How long was I gone?"

A pale and shell-shocked Carter seemed mesmerised by the youngster on her bed. She replied hollowly, "That's my child, Sir."

Jack noticed that Daniel seemed to get even more subdued at her words. Teal'c spoke, the Jaffa rarely being found speechless. He said, "It would appear that the child has a condition which accelerates his age."

Doctor Brightman entered the room, clipboard in hand. The General turned to her, hoping, in vain, that she could explain what the hell was going on. He felt as though he was losing his grip on reality, and it already had been a fairly loose grip to begin with.

The doctor said, shocked, "General. Impossible doesn't even cut it. Colonel Carter's child is only an hour old and already has the appearance and cognition of an eighteen month or two year old child. However, he has yet to speak." She glanced at SG-1, their faces ranging from carefully schooled emotions to downright shock. She continued, "It would seem that Colonel Carter has asexually reproduced. The child's DNA only features genetic material from the Colonel; the naquadah in his blood is proportional to the levels in the Colonel's own due to their shared blood supply during pregnancy. We siphoned off power from the emergency lighting system to conduct our tests... all of them have come back within acceptable parameters for a child of his age."

Jack asked, a headache brewing yet again, "So... the kid's normal?"

Brightman replied, just as perplexed, "Yes, Sir, and, of course, no."

"Well, ain't that a kick in the head..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When the decision had been made to isolate Sam and the child, he had decided, nay, _insisted_, on being by her side. He wasn't going to let her down. It had taken several arguments with the doctor, with Jack, and even being restrained by Teal'c at one point, but they had all taken pity on him eventually. After all, SG-1 had always had each other's backs, or they had at least tried. Daniel was seated on the edge of Sam's bed as the Colonel slept. Recent events had left her absolutely exhausted and, though she had tried to fight it, human physiology had taken its course.

He watched as the child sat on the floor playing with some bricks. At least it wasn't a Goa'uld, but that brought little comfort. His girlfriend had been mysteriously impregnated with a rapidly ageing child. Just hours after the birth, the child looked as though he could be four or five. There was no other explanation than the whole situation being of extraterrestrial origin. Humans just didn't reproduce asexually.

The entire situation was impossible; not only impossible but the type of impossible where one could almost hear the universe mocking him. He mentally chastised himself for being selfish. What about Sam? She must have been traumatised beyond measure. Before she could emotionally adjust to her situation, she had been thrust into motherhood. Nothing he had experienced could possibly compare to that.

He continued watching the child. What did it want? Was it an alien entity in disguise? If so, did it have a malicious intent? Was it infiltrating humanity by becoming a human so it could destroy the Earth? So far, the child seemed to delight in building structures with the bricks. That didn't seem malicious behaviour but they had only explored a fraction of the known universe. Perhaps in some parts of the Milky Way, playing with bricks announced one's intention to decimate one's neighbours.

As though he could hear Daniel's racing thoughts, the child looked up curiously. The child then spoke, "Hello, Daniel Jackson."


End file.
